Entrenchment Because of their fundamental nature, written constitutional
documents almost always provide that they can only be amended through difficult,
special procedures often involving special majorities. This feature is called
“entrenchment,” and an entrenched constitution is generally called “rigid.”
Entrenchment is meant to make changes in the constitution harder to accomplish
than changes in ordinary law. As a result, a constitution will reflect a larger majority
and be more protective for minorities or minority interests.
An amendment of the Polish Constitution, for example, requires a two-thirds majority in the
lower chamber of Parliament and an absolute majority in the Senate, and in some cases a
referendum may be prescribed afterwards to confirm the amendment. Normal laws, by
contrast, in principle require a simple majority in the lower chamber, and the senate may
usually be overruled if it objects to a law.8.1.1.2 Three Themes
In this chapter, several topics of constitutional law will be addressed. They will be
structured in three major themes. The first theme, “State Power Established,”
discusses in the remainder of Sect.8.1the state and the source of its sovereignty
or authority to rule.
The second theme, “State Power Constrained,” considers the ways in which the
power of the state is curbed; this includes the division of the state’s power among its
organs (or branches of government) and among its territorial entities, the limits on
state action as they result from the protection of human rights, and the power of the
judge to determine whether state action is lawful or unlawful. This theme is dealt
with in Sect.8.2.
The third theme, “State Power Democratized,” relates to the ways in which the
power of the state is exercised or controlled by the people. It is the topic of Sect.8.3.
8.1.2 Sovereignty
A state is an organization that is able to control a certain territory and the people
living in it, both in the sense of defending it against the outside world and in the
sense of exercising powers and maintaining law and order inside its own borders.
These two capacities are considered to be two aspects of sovereignty, namely
internal sovereigntyandexternal sovereignty. The extent of states’ external sover-
eignty is a central topic for public international law—the branch of law that
regulates relations between states (see Chap. 11 ). The use of the term “sovereignty”
is a normative one (relating to the source of state authority and powers), but
“sovereignty” also stands for factual control. A state may have sovereign powers
but still be hindered from exercising them for reasons of international politics, trade
relations, resources, the role of financial markets, or lack of military powers.
8 Constitutional Law 159